Blackbirds in Early Irish Poetry

In a class I held a few months back on my Picto-centric survey of 8^th-9^th century poetic styles (that is, a sampling of extant poetry of cultures documentably in contact with the Picts), I mentioned in passing the frequency with which blackbirds appeared in Irish poetry of this period, particularly being compared to scribes or poets. One of my students raised the possibility that this was a mistranslation for crow or raven, with all the otherworldly symbolism those held in Irish mythology (associations with Morrigan, Babh, battle generally, etc.).

I did a little quick research (I love interesting questions!) and it appears that the words were distinct and that there were blackbirds (lon or lon dubh) as well as ravens (fiach or fiach dubh)(note that “dubh,” appearing optionally in either term, means black or dark) and crows (I’m less sure of this term—bran or perhaps caróg?) in Ireland. It appears that all appear in the literature, with somewhat different roles. For a cursory look at the association between the blackbird and rebirth, spiritual messengers, as well as with scribal and bardic activities, see for example “On the role of the Blackbird as a Preferred Supernatural Messenger in Medieval Irish Sources” by Andrea Lane. I’m not sure I would agree with all her conclusions, but she cites some interesting examples of both sets of birds. For a side by side translation of one of the 9^th century poems most clearly about a “lon”, a blackbird, small, with a yellow beak, see “The Blackbird by Belfast Loch.”

Certainly the portrayals of the small melodic blackbirds, as opposed to the harsher cries of the crow, lend themselves well in my own mind to the various comparisons with bards, poets and scribes that appear in the poetry. The blackbird is sometimes pictured singing his songs where the working scribe can hear, a more cheerful counterpart to the crows that appear more often in literature at battlefields amidst the dying rather than outside scriptoria.

I haven’t yet come across a poem that uses both blackbirds and ravens (or crows), either to contrast them or otherwise, but I will certainly keep an eye out now. I also rather want to go back to survey all the talking/magical birds in the immrama and other tales to see which species appear. I will certainly report back if I find anything else of interest as I explore 8^th-9^th century Irish poetry in more depth in the months ahead.

Pictish Ladies out for a Ride

I've been working for some time on researching the names, images of and generally lives of Pictish women for some time. Information on just about anything Pictish is typically thin on the ground, and images of women are no exception. There is one quite well known depiction of a Pictish woman: the top rider on the Hilton of Cadboll stone, seen riding side-saddle wearing a large penannular brooch, a mirror and comb beside her. (The mirror and comb symbols operate somewhat differently than other Pictish symbols, seeming to augment the rest of the symbols in some way. An indicator of female gender is one theory though others such as royal status have also been suggested.)

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Meigle sculpted stones. From my questions about how far back the Vanora legend stretched concerning the central figure of the Meigle 2, the staff member on duty--Lydia, I believe--guessed my interest in potential figures of women. She therefore pointed out to me that the blurred weathered rider in the lower left corner of Meigle 1 had two dangling shoes just like the woman on the Hilton of Cadboll stone. The rider is riding side-saddle. Even the scene is reminiscent with other outriders. There is even a mirror and comb placed just above the scene carved extremely largely though not directly next to the apparently female rider.

I quickly noticed some lines that seemed to indicate a split in the overlayer of the rider's top garment layer. Other stones seem to indicate this is likely to be a coat, fastened in the center by a brooch and left to drape open to show the skirts of the dress beneath. It is always dangerous to let preconceptions guide interpretation, but certainly it appears to me that there is some sort of garment with a widening open stretching to the hemline. It also appears to me as if she is facing slightly toward the direction the horse is riding rather than straight out at the viewer, and that she is perhaps wearing a hood rather than having the  loose folds of hair (or voluminous folds of fabric perhaps) the Hilton of Cadboll rider has. If so, this would not be the first probable female Pict image to be hooded. There is a stone with three figures believed to be women, all hooded, the central one with an additional line across the forehead that could indicate anything from a cap to a veil to a circlet. 

Lydia indicated that Meigle 1 likely predated the Hilton of Cadboll stone and may in fact have been used as a model for it. It is certainly a pity the figure on Meigle 1 is so weathered, but even the details that can be gleaned are intriguing. In looking at my pictures now, I worry that the lines I see as belonging to the dress and overdress/coat don't lie terribly well with the two dangling shoes, but it looked natural enough in person, so for now I will trust that initial instinct.

It is perhaps worth noting Meigle 1 was found not terribly far from Kirriemuir 1, yet another of the stone depicting a (probable) woman, this one seated in a grand chair or throne, what appears to be a loom to one side of her, a mirror and comb to the other. There is suggestion that she may be plying a drop spindle, dangling at her feet. Sadly the Meffan, the museum containing the Kirriemuir stones, was closed the day I went (this is what comes of having a guide book that's over four years old), so I've not yet seen this one myself.

I will say that having seen Meigle 2 in person, I find the Vanora story--or any other reading of the central figure as feminine--as sadly unlikely. The face looks quite bearded to me. Lydia made the argument for the image representing Christ rather than the most commonly ascribed Daniel in the Lion's Den.

The Vanora legend is, however, an interesting piece of the evolution of the Arthurian legend across Britain. I find myself drawn back, though to the Pictish ladies on horseback.

Pictish Women: Nectudad or Nahhtvvddadds

Nectudad – This spelling is the National Museum of Scotland's standardization of NAHHTVVDDADDS from an ogham inscription on a stone now in NMS. I understand there is a newish theory that at least some of the "Pictish" ogham inscriptions were in fact using Norse and "daughter" was indeed one of the words this theory turned around. I still need to hunt down the article/book where this theory is laid out, but it may be behind the reasoning for
CRROSCC : NAHHTVVDDADDS : DATTRR : ANN...
being translated by the National Museum as “The cross of Nectudad, daughter of An...”

If they're right, then Nectudad certainly sounds like it could be a feminine version of Nectan. So even if "dattrr" is Norse in origin, it still seems likely we are dealing with a Pictish name here. I think there are other reasonable ways one could standardize the name, such as Nechtudad or Nachtudad, but I would recommend consulting someone more versed in ogham than I.

Of course, the Norse usually put “daughter” as a tag at the end of the father's name, for instance Kolla Sveinsdóttir as “Kolla daughter of Sveinn” which would give us instead Crosc daughter of Nectudad, with “ann-” beginning some other part of the inscription. I believe the combination of the similarity of croscc and cross and the other neighboring languages that use an X daughter of Y format combine toward making “Nectudad” rather than “Crosc” the daughter in question.

On the other hand, “dattrr” need not be of Norse origin at all, but may come into Pictland through Gaelic or even from earlier Celtic languages parallel to its cognate in Gaelic. There are “a series of Gaelic names for women beginning with the element Der-/Dar- which has been shown to be a Gaelic cognate of the English word 'daughter', derived from a reduced form of the Proto-Gaelic *ducht(a)ir. A close cognate of this word, a derivative of the Indo-European word for 'daughter' (the English word is itself a descendant of the Germanic derivative), has now been attested in the continental Celtic language Gaulish as duχtir...In the inscription, χ= /χ/” (Clancy “Philosopher King”). Given these early and widespread cognates, it is not beyond possibility that “dattrr” could be a rendering of a Pictish term for “daughter” or “daughter of,” though we know so little of the Pictish language that this must remain mere speculation.

Selected Bibliography:

Clancy, Thomas Owen. “Philosopher-King: Nechtan mac Der-Ilei” The Scottish Historican Review, Vol. LXXXIII, 2. Oct. 2004. pp125-49.

See also Royal Irish Academy, Dictionary of the Irish Language (compact edn, Dublin. 1983), under der.

M.A. O'Brien, 'Der-, Dar-, Derb-in female names', Celtica, iii (1956), 178-9.

E. Hamp. '*dhugHter in Irish', Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, xxxiii (1975), 39-40.

National Museum of Scotland

(This is a re-post from 2010. I would now have more to add to--and perhaps subtract from--it. I will include it for now, however, rather than omit it and will hope to offer a revision in the not too distant future.)

Pictish Women: Drusticc or Drustric

Drusticc or Drustric – A woman in the 6^th century said to be daughter of Drest and mother of Lonan, son of Talmach. She is mentioned in the Book of Leinster, the Book of Ui Maine, and Liber Hymnorum. Liber Hymnorum includes a story about her being sent to study with Mugind, abbot of Whithorn. Drusticc fell in love with Rioc (also studying there) and begged to be married to him but another student, Talmach, was sent to her instead. In the Book of Leinster, (fol. 373A?) “Drustric daughter of Trust” is in a list of mothers of saints as the mother of Lonan, son of Talmach. Lonan seems to be a saint in Galloway. Drest or Trust is a common name in the Pictish king lists and probably common through the rest of the Pictish warrior nobility.

As of yet, I've only read summaries of these accounts in secondary sources from the middle of the 20^th century. I'd love to get see the original texts or, baring that, find more recent scholarly accounts. But the old stuff is what is available in searchable full text and thus easier to find references in. Part of the Book of Leinster is available on the CELT archive, but I haven't been able to find the list of mothers of saints or any mention of Drustric. Nor do the folio numbers as given online approach anywhere near 373. (I tried 37A in case there was a subtle difference in numbering practice, but to no avail.)

Another potential problem with Drustric is that her father is apparently mentioned in at least one location as the king of the Britons or king of the northern Britons. Nora Chadwick notes that this might refer to the king of Strathclyde. Hector Chadwick, however, makes an argument for Trust, Drustic's father, as a Pictish king. Key to his argument is the fact that Trust or Drust or Drest is unattested as a British name, but well attested as a Pictish name and, in fact, the name of a Pictish king at the appropriate time in the 6^th century.

Chadwick, Hector Munro. Early Scotland: the Picts, the Scots & the Welsh of southern Scotland. 1949. Pg 12. 

 

Chadwich, Nora K., Kathleen Hughes, Christopher Brooke, Kenneth Jackson, Studies in the Early British Church, 1958, pp. 61-2.

Pictish Sourcebook.

(This is a re-post from 2010)

Pictish Women: Eithne

(Repost from 2010)
For a number of years, since I decided on a Pictish persona in the SCA, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for Pictish women's names. These are generally assumed to be vanishingly hard to find. Most of the web sites I came across either claimed there were none known or one or, at most, two.

Over the years I have found quite a few names that are worthy of, at the very least, consideration in this topic. Many of them have some dubious or debatable aspect to them: whether the name is really Pictish, whether it is really a woman's name, whether it was the name of a real person and not created for a legendary context alone. Nevertheless, given the scarcity of evidence for female Pictish names, it seemed worthwhile to bring these names together with a consideration of both their evidence and their problems.

But although I've done quite a bit of research and compiled quite a few names with shorthand notes to myself, I've been dragging my heels actually writing it all out and putting it up for people to use.

So, I've decided to use this space to try to edit my notes and get them out into the world. If anyone wants to offer feedback on any of the names, or offer additional names or documentation, etc., please feel free!

So, to start us off, one of the most famous ones:

Eithne – the death of “Eithne ingen Cinadhon” is recorded in the Annals of Ulster in 778: “Eithni ingen Cinadhon moritur” (U778.11 in the Annals of Ulster, Electronic Texts Edition, University College Cork, http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001A/). Incidentally, this stands alone as the last entry for 778. Cinadhon is most likely Ciniod son of Uuredech, an 8^th century Pictish king. His death is noted, among other places, in the same annal at the beginning of 775: “Mors Cinadhon regis Pictorum” (U775.1) three years before Eithne's death. 

 

Eithne is also a Gaelic name, one relatively popular in Ireland at the time and still in use today, the origin of the Anglicized name “Enya.” While this might make the name less distinctively Pictish, this is one of the best documented names for a Pictish woman we have. 

 

Whether the name would have been recognizably an Irish borrowing or was in common use in Pictland as well is impossible to say. It's also entirely possible that the name would have been slightly different in Pictish and the Irish annalist altered it slightly to bring it in line with the familiar Eithne. See the alternate spelled versions of the Pictish king list for examples of such spelling shifts.